Albion would have sent strong side

Brighton & Hove Albion had planned to send a strong side to Sidley United on Wednesday night.

The Seagulls announced their squad for the Sussex Senior Cup third round tie on their website only for the match to be postponed because of a waterlogged Gullivers pitch.

Albion’s starting XI would have contained four players who were in the squad for the FA Cup fifth round tie away to Premier League Stoke City on Saturday and three who played.

Agustin Battipiedi started that game and was replaced by Jake Forster-Caskey, who has captained England at under-17 level. Cristian Baz, like Battipiedi from Argentina, also came off the bench and Lewis Dunk was an unused sub.

The line-up also contained seven players who began the reserves’ 2-1 win away to Brentford on Monday February 14 which put them four points clear at the top of the Totesport.com Combination and maintained their unbeaten record.

Other names of note included locally-based Steve Cook, pictured, seasoned campaigner Gary Hart, Norwegian striker Toby Agdestein and Yaser Kasim, an Iraq-born midfielder who came through the youth ranks at Tottenham Hotspur.

What’s more, Alan Navarro, who began his career at Liverpool, was named among the substitutes having recently resumed training after suffering a ruptured cruciate ligament back in August.